


They Came To Rule

by GinnieHazel



Category: Eureka, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Dissection, Gen, Goa'uld, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Paranoia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7073551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnieHazel/pseuds/GinnieHazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In S01E04 of Eureka several of the characters believe the earth is being invaded by creatures from another planet that take human hosts. In the episode, they were wrong.</p>
<p>In this story, not so much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Taggart was a scary man when he smiled. And now, he was grinning down at Congressman Faraday.

  
“How many are you?” Taggart tapped his forehead gently. “We know what you are. We know where you’re from. And believe me, by the time I’m done with you, We’ll know everything else.”

  
Faraday flinched back into the specimen table when another one of his attackers surged forward.

  
“Have you come to harm us?” Fargo twitched, waving the gun unsteadily.

  
“What do you people want?” The Congressman's eyes flickered from one of his captors to another, looking for a flicker of compassion.

  
Deputy Lupo stepped closer. “We want answers.” She gestured up the stairs. “But first, tell your people to lay down their weapons.”

  
He struggled harder, trying desparately to wrench his wrists free. “I don’t have any people!”

  
They looked down at the man they had captured, and any other time they might have put it down to a trick of the light, but for a second his eyes seemed to glow.

  
“He’s right.” Taggart wondered casually over to his work surface. “He’s just the host. The creature is protected inside.”

  
Fargo lent close. “How do we get it out?” he whispered.

  
Taggart’s eyes glinted as steely as the blade of the circular saw he held up to the light. “We cut it out.”

  
He worked quickly, walking round so he was standing behind the congressman's head and holding down the saws trigger down. “Gag him.”

  
Deputy Lupo unclipped the strap from her MP4 and tied it round his head, pulling it tight so he couldn’t spit it out.

  
The blade cut through flesh and bone like it was meant to, slicing away the top of the congressman’s skull. Taggart slipped his hand under the mans neck and lifted, only for the loose section to fall away and skitter across the ground.

*****

Sheriff Carter Jogged round the little hut Taggart worked from and hoped to hell he wasn’t too late. He pressed the buzzer by the door and waited.

  
“Who is it?” Taggart’s voice crackled over the speakers.

  
They could see him, Carter knew. He looked up at the small camera, beseeching. “It’s Carter. I’m unarmed; open the door.”

  
“What is this in reference to?”

  
Jack groaned. “I know you have the congressman in there.”

  
The door opened inward and he was greeted by the barrel of a gun, Lupo’s sharp eyes regarding him from over the top.

  
“You alone?” She scanned the horizon behind him.

  
“Oh yeah.”

  
She scowled and started running her hands over him, brisk and military. Once she was satisfied, she nodded. “Come in.”

  
He stepped past her and started down the steps. “Jo, any minute this place is going to be swarmed by the oh my god…” He trailed to a stop as he took in the room. Fargo and Vincent were both armed, looking unnatural in their army getups, and Taggart, standing in the middle, grinning. He was still holding the circular saw, and blood was pooling at his feet.

  
Carter stepped forward in a daze. “What did you do?”

  
“It’s great, isn’t it?” Taggart said, looking like a child at Christmas. “They didn’t count on us, did they Carter?”

  
Jack edged closer, covering his mouth as he lent down to examine the wound. “Oh, god. What did you do?” In all his time as a Marshal, and then as a Sheriff, he’d never seen anything like it.

  
Then it twitched.

  
Carter leapt back, crashing into Taggart as the… thing slipped out of the Congressman’s head. The creature, some kind of snake with vicious looking mandibles and frills around it’s neck like a lizard. It reared up at him and squeaked.

  
Lupo swept in wearing a pair of animal wrangling gloves and grabbed the snake… thing by the neck.

  
“Fargo, get a jar!”

  
It took some flailing and faffing, but between the two of them Jo and Fargo managed to get the whatever it was stuffed into a mason jar.

 

Carter watched the creature squirm before slapping his head in realization. “Oh, god, the soldiers!” He took the stairs two at a time. “I need to go tell them about this before they come in and shoot us all.” He looked over the room again, searching for words, then sighed, waved at them like he was batting a fly, and left to try and figure out how the hell he was gonna explain this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stargate team get involved.

Emergency briefings almost always gave Jack a headache. Add in the late hour, gone 6pm, and there was no way this could be good news. He made sure to grab a fresh cup of coffee before heading to the briefing room.

  
He was the last to arrive. Teal'c was sitting ram-rod straight, hands gently placed together on the table. Sam had brought some files, busy work, probably, and was reading quietly. Daniel was chewing on a pen.

  
General Hammond nodded to him and sat in his own chair at the head of the table. "This is a delicate situation." He sighed and learned forward on his elbows. "You all remember the encounter with Seth a few months ago?"

  
"The cult leader?" Jack raised his eyebrow. "It's kinda hard to forget."

  
The general nodded. "Well, it seems we may have been too hasty to assume he was a one off."

  
You think there are more goa'uld on Earth?" Daniel glanced at the others.

"Did we get this information from the Tok'ra?"

  
"I wish it were that simple, doctor." The general passed round pictures to SG1. Daniel got a glimpse and had to look away.

  
Most of the pictures focused on a man lying on what looked like a dissecting table, though that probably wasn't it's original use. His head had been opened, but the last pictures in the series were the real money shots. Nestled in a jar, covered in blood and... things Jack didn't want to think about, lay the body of a fully grown goa'uld.

  
"Where were these taken?" Sam asked.

  
"That's what makes this such an embarrassment, major. These pictures were taken at an American research facility based in Oregon. To add to that, the dead man is a congressman. Congressman Faraday. Needless to say, the higher echelons have ordered us to get on top of this; to find out if there are more of these creatures hiding on Earth and, if so, track them down before they do any more damage." Hammond stood. You'll have time to read the file once you're in the air. We're flying you out on an army carrier immediately."

  
"General?" Sam stood, too. "You haven't told us exactly where we're going?"

  
Hammond smiled a weary smile. "A town called Eureka."

*****

Barely 10 minutes later the four members of SG1, along with a dozen or so soldiers, were strapping into a transport plane waiting to take off. Sam was having a last look through the file she had open in her lap.

  
Jack looked over her shoulder. "So, enlighten me. How did these people manage to track down a goa'uld when we weren't even looking?"

  
Sam's brow furrowed. "That's what I can't figure out, sir. It seems they were accidentally exposed to some kind of non lethal weapon that was supposed to leave them paranoid and cause them to turn on each other."

  
"Accidental exposure to fun new weapons? Sounds like our kind of place."

  
Sam smiled. "According to the file, one of the five affected got spooked by a helicopter and made his own crop circle. The rest, convinced the visiting congressman was an alien in disguise, kidnapped him and, well, you saw the photos."

  
"So this paranoia weapon gave them the ability to detect the goa'uld?"

  
"That's what I can't figure out. According to the file they were having a movie night when they became affected." She laughed. "It was called 'They Came to Conquer'."

  
Daniel frowned. "So they just happened to find the alien? What are the chances of that?"

  
"It's possible. The congressman was there to make a decision about their funding; decided whether they were going to get shut down. He was also the outsider. If they couldn't sense the goa'uld then he'd be the natural target."

  
"So it could just be one big coincidence?" Daniel cocked his head to one side. "Who were these people? Scientists? Soldiers?"

  
Sam shrugged. "A bit of a mixture. The sheriffs deputy is an ex soldier, and two of them are PhDs. One's a veterinary surgeon and biological containment specialist, and the other seems to be some kind of secretary."

  
"Even the secretary has a doctorate?" Jack asked with a look of dread.

  
"Programming. The other two are a mechanic's assistant and the chef from the local diner. We'll be interviewing all of them when we arrive."

  
"Well, this is just great. Trucked a thousand miles to talk with a bunch of nerds."

  
He closed his eyes as the pilot started his preflight checks. Might as well try and get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, ' A town called Eureka' was the name of the program when it was exported to the UK. I couldn't help myself. :-)
> 
> Also, typing this on a phone sucked.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack didn’t know what to expect from this ‘Eureka’, but most small, bucolic towns didn’t have somewhere to land a jet.

  
When the team stepped off the transport they were faced with a group of townsfolk standing in a small barricade at the end of the runway. O’Neill stepped forward to the man in the Sheriffs uniform and stuck his hand out.

  
“Colonel Jack O’Neill. This is Major Sam Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and the man in the cool beanie is Teal’c.”

  
Teal’c raised his eyebrow.

  
“I’m Sheriff Jack Carter.” They shook hands. “And this is Henry Deacon,” The man in coveralls nodded but didn’t put his hand out, “And Dr. Sharat, who was working on the project that started all this. What do you want to do first then?”

  
“Carter?”

  
The Major nodded. “I guess the first thing to do would be to interview the people affected? That way we can figure out if this is all just a coincidence or not.”

  
“Sounds like a plan.” The Sheriff smiled and turned to the three vehicles behind them, the Sheriffs Jeep, a small blue sedan, and a two seat electric car.

  
“Did you run out of big black SUVs?” Jack headed for the Jeep, followed by Sam.

  
“It was this or the fire engine, Colonel.” Henry motioned Teal’c towards the sedan.

  
The two cars drove away leaving Daniel and Dr. Sharat standing awkwardly.

  
“It would appear we’re traveling together.”

  
Dr Sharat nodded. “It looks like it. But don’t worry, I have a lot of questions.” She smiled and got into her car.

  
“Oh, boy.”

*****

“So, I kinda get why the military gets called in on this, but why you four? You guys the alien experts?”

  
“If we were the alien experts, and I’m not saying we are,” The colonel’s eyes scanned the streets as they passed, “But if we were the alien experts do you think we’d be allowed to tell you anything?”

  
“I was there when that thing fell out of the Congressman's head, buddy. I’m just saying.” The Sheriff sighed. “Acme Razer, my ass.”

  
“Occam's Razor?”

  
“What?”

  
Sam lent forward. “Occam’s Razor. The principal that you should make as few assumptions as possible when formulating an explanation.”

  
“That sounds about right. Henry was explaining why it wasn’t aliens.”

  
“Well Sheriff,” Jack piped up from the front seat, “Where we come from, it’s never the simple explanation.”

*****

“So, are you from Eureka?”

  
Dr. Sharat glanced to Daniel Jackson. “Not a lot of us are lifers. There are some, Fargo for instance, but most of us were recruited. Kids who graduate from Tesla High tend to want to strike out on there own, even if this is still home.” She Shrugged. “You stay here too long and you can’t go back.”

  
“That’s a bit grim.”

  
“I don’t know. If you stay in one place you don’t get perspective. I think that’s why we’ve never had a university here. Plus, there’s always return to the norm.”

  
“Return to the norm?”

  
“Most outliers return to the average if there’s randomness involved. Think about it, you match up the tallest man and woman you can find and all those little random occurrences that made them tall, you aren’t going to be able to replicate them. Oh, sure, their kids will be taller than average, but most of them will be shorter than their parents. It’ll happen with any trait that relies on a lot of different genes. Unless you use inbreeding, and that usually doesn’t end well with humans.”

  
Daniel felt almost speechless. “I never really thought about it like that.”

  
“Best not too.” She smiled at him. “So, are you going to tell me about the Stargate?”

  
“Hm?”

*****

Teal’c rode in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be wrong about Dr. Sharat's data, seeing as how they never talked about whether the teens would come back if they didn't get scholarships, but they seem to do a lot of outside hiring.
> 
> And the returning to the mean thing has always puzzled me.


End file.
